Emerald skeet shooter planning for Commonwealth Games

EMERALD skeet shooter Cherie Reeves is grateful for the time she now has to practise for her next big competition.

Ms Reeves earlier this year shot in qualifying tournaments for the Tokyo Olympics, but decided not to attend the final interstate round because she would have needed to go into quarantine afterwards.

“I missed the very last one because of all the COVID stuff and I wouldn’t have been able to go back to work after being in Sydney,” she said.

“Because of the uncertainty at the moment – because we can’t shoot anywhere, we’ve got no idea when things will return to normal – it’s difficult to reschedule anything.

“They announced their team a week or so ago.”

Not to be disheartened, Ms Reeves said that missing the Olympics could turn out to be a positive thing, since she could now focus on preparing for the 2022 Commonwealth Games.

“It was little bit disappointed, but it’s probably a blessing in disguise for me,” she said.

“It gives me a little bit of time to get really ready for the next lot of international events

“We won’t see a selection criteria for anything for a while, so as soon as they’ve had some time to catch their breath and work out a plan of attack they’ll let us know what events we need to be at to qualify for the Commonwealth Games.”

In the meantime, Ms Reeves has been busy with quieter pursuits.

“I learned a lot through this process,” she said. “It’s been great to give me breathing space.

“I’ve just about finished my floristry qualification. I did my last class on Zoom a few weeks ago.